H&B 2002tii ALPINA (Jason Pappalexis, part 2)

[Guest Anonymous]

Jason sent along some stuff (the invoices and a few pics that didn't make it into his article). A good portion of my blog is dedicated to the ALPINA parts that we used to be able to buy off the shelf. Some of us "older timers" remember those days well, others can only read about it somewhere as there are few options any more to buy quality performance parts for 2002's - well illustrated in posts earlier this week on a certain exhaust system. Back to Jason's car - really is sort of a time capsule I think and is a testament to the fact that their (ALPINA) stuff performed, and more than anything lasted! Earlier today posted an article from R&T (1979) or so on ALPINA "working a little BMW magic"......going to be a busy weekend for me - enjoy!

http://historicracingbmw.blogspot.com/

[dubois]

that car has a great story behind it, and it is great fun to drive. The motor is really smooth and revs effortlessly. The A4 system installed by Jason, was one of the last items the original owner had planned to upgrade to. So, in a sense this is a car which has been a 30+ year planned project. Verona has got to be one my favorite colors.

[jgerock]

Wonderful! I had no idea Jason's car was built like this. Thanks for sharing.

[NickVyse]

That's a great car and an event better attitude to ownership.

[Guest Anonymous]

I agree.

Jason, as a point of clarification, does your car still have the ALPINA 300 cam in it or was that changed out? For some reason I am thinking you had a Schrick 292 in there? (If so, who changed it and why). Also, remind me again about the ALPINA fuel injection, the stage 2 part of the invoice has all the ALPINA injection stuff (or so it would seem), but again for some reason I want to recall that you put that stuff on later? I have to say that those were the days when you could take your car to a "shop" and basically have it fitted out however you wanted from mild to wild. Hardy & Beck really did perform the same work as the ALPINA factory only here in Berkeley, CA. I was a student at UC Berkeley in 1979, I almost used to look forward to when my car needed service (or just a new part) just to go down to the "candy store" and look around.

http://historicracingbmw.blogspot.com/

[JsnPpp]

Thanks for all the nice words! I have to say that it wouldn't look anywhere close to what it does now without Michael Dubois! I have very good memories painting it in Hollister Auto Body.

At time of purchase:

Starting the paint prep at Hollister Auto Body:

175 hours later and in the spray booth:

That is correct, the car was built with the 300 cam by H&B during one of it's engine rebuilds in the late 1970's (at least two engine upgrades occurred). I one time went through all the receipts for the car and found that 15 years later in 199x the head was again changed/rebuilt by H&B, this time due to wear (the car was driven often) and a replacement cam was installed. The receipt doesn't say the new cam specs and since I've never pulled the cam to have it measured I don't know what is there. It pulls nicely at high RPM, even up to (and past) stock redline. It has a lightly lumpy idle at 900-950rpm no matter what I do. Michael and I measured compression on the car a few years back and if I recall it was like 220 or something on each cylinder (I can't recall now exactly). Receipts say it has 10:1 forged pistons. Pretty much the engine is a black box, I've replaced front and rear main seals, gaskets, etc.

I added the A4 injection in 2003? I always felt that the car warranted it and since I keep in close contact with the previous owner he also agreed that it was something he wanted to do as well but just never did. It's part of the lifecycle of the car I guess. My dream is to bring it back to H&B to have them tear it all down and do it again! Need to win the lottery first tho.

Thanks again for the nice words, a few more things left to do on it, aren't they all like that? Keeps it fun. The article photos are nice, the really good ones were taken by my friend and 2002 nut Paul Schuster here in Austin, was a fun afternoon!

~Jason

[dubois]

Gosh, that brings good memories! For clarification purposes we only "supervised" Jason on the paint job (he did 99.99 %), most of the time he was a good employee, we had 5 different guys telling him what to do, each with different opinions! It was really a fun project.

Having driven Jans A4s with 300 cam, I am of the opinion, that is what Jason's car has (or close to it), the 200 + psi compression, may indicate even something higher than 10:1, like Jan's there is very little lag on the lower rpms, easy 7k revs.

[Guest Anonymous]

ALPINA designed the A4 system to work specifically with the 300 degree sport cam and with the bare minimum of having a correct pump to go with it, that system work superbly with it. My 73tii (#2763503) that I had for a short while had a factory 300 sport cam with A4 injection - alot of fun to drive it was and really quite fast. When I decided to sell the car I took the injection off (sold the tii for $6k and the injection for $5k....go figure), but I left the 300 cam in with standard tii injection (bad, bedddy, beddddy bad). Dont ever kid yourself that that much cam will work with standard single throttle injection and a non-Alpina pump. I heard later on the guy that bought the car from me had that factory 300 cam re-ground to "something" else (a crime). Alpina actually had a 300 cam they sold that was not a large bearing cam like the factory sport, maybe Jason's car has one of those in it.

http://historicracingbmw.blogspot.com/

[JsnPpp]

One of these days I will be forced to crack open the block and see what's inside, I'm curious too actually! All I know is that whatever it is, H&B made a smooth engine with a lot of grunt. I'd love to know what cam it is, I should at least remove the cam cover (been a little while) and take a closer look in case there is something that gives it away.

The A4 I put on came with a "correct" pump, that remains to be seen and I didn't see any Alpina type marks on it (not sure if I know what they are to be honest) but you never know unless you again crack it open to see.

Car also has a "40% limited slip diff", I don't know yet what ratio most likely 3.64 but I need to count revolutions to see what it is.

It's all fun...

I must say that bar none the best memories I have with a 2002 are working on the red car in Michael's shop for a few months while I was between jobs, great great memories there. I still tell my kids the stories of having those P51 Mustangs buzz over so low you can see the pilots! Then taking a "quick" drive on Quien Sabe road after a long day...

~Jason

[inkatouring]

The A4 I put on came with a "correct" pump, that remains to be seen and I didn't see any Alpina type marks on it (not sure if I know what they are to be honest) but you never know unless you again crack it open to see.

~Jason

What are the numbers on the ID plate for the K-fish? That might give some insight into what pump you have. My k-fish pump -- which is Mark's old pump from that system he sold (not to me) for $5k -- does not say ALPINA on it but has a ID plate with the ALPINA secret code number on it.

[Guest Anonymous]

We have been over this before! Josh (inkatouring) has more of my stuff (old stuff) than I care to recall - to a good home though and facilitated the purchase of other (nonetheless I would love to have all of it back). The code isn't secret as I posted it on my blog a few weeks ago. This was one of the last real deal ALPINA pumps ALPINA had, and as I suggested in the post I paid through the nose for it.

http://historicracingbmw.blogspot.com/2010/06/alpina-a4-kugelfischer-injection-pump.html

I believe it is PL04 129.10 725.....

[inkatouring]

I believe it is PL04 129.10 725.....

Now you've done it Mark, you let the secret out.

Jason, if your pump has that number -- I recall that is the number, too -- you have the real deal. And if it is not that number, you might still, too.

[JsnPpp]

Just looked and no number that I can see! The pump was sold as a set with the A4 injection from a guy in Denmark and my real focus was the A4...

It's interesting to think about if it's actually NOT a modified kfisher. At the end of the day it does appear to work fine, I've had a wide-band on it and I've got within my acceptable tuning limits and performance and drivability. Too bad there isn't an Alpina store around to walk in and buy the right cone just in case... :-)

~Jason

[Lee]

Too bad there isn't an Alpina store around to walk in and buy the right cone just in case... :-)

Actually, the "right" cones were available from Schimmer. It went down but I am sure the cones can still be sourced somewhere. If only I had made a copy of the pictures. Don't forget that of thecar is a race car that need no warm-up compensator, maybe you can tweak the enrichment rod for more fuel...

[dubois]

Too bad there isn't an Alpina store around to walk in and buy the right cone just in case... :-)

Actually, the "right" cones were available from Schimmer. It went down but I am sure the cones can still be sourced somewhere. If only I had made a copy of the pictures. Don't forget that of thecar is a race car that need no warm-up compensator, maybe you can tweak the enrichment rod for more fuel...

My personal opinion - and it is strictly an opinion - that too much emphasis is placed to have the "correct" Alpina pump. For originality purposes, it is a must, but for performance, it is my experience that you can crank that fuel enrichment screw to give you enough juice to run 125 mph - after that, it is a moot point, since in reality no one in the right mind would go that fast in a 2002 (I tempted fate once, and that was enough) Even the instructions from the pump manufacturer tell you to tune for WOT for race applications and don't worry about the rest). And yet, I think that Alpina, is to be admired for their engineering, as one could just take their tii, and have it done (I am assuming in a short period of time), and have it perfectly tuned - unlike the rest of us that have spent enormous amounts of time and effort to just get it right. To their credit, must of the A4's I have driven, were probably tuned with the "wrong" pump, and yet, they themselves (including Jason's car) are a marvel of performance and engineering, and an incredible feat of human tenacity.